Synthesis and characterization of anatase TiO2 nanotubes and their use in dye-sensitized solar cells

Anatase TiO₂ nanotubes (NTs) with the diameter of about 12 nm and the length of several hundreds nanometers were synthesized by hydrothermal method. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmitting electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Brunauer–Emmet–Teller (BET) measurements. The NTs are used to make composites photoanode with pristine TiO₂ nanoparticles in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). It was found that the NT/nanoparticle ratio had a pronounced impact on the performance of solar cells. The electrode composite has better photoelectric properties than the full nanoparticle and NTs solar cells. The optimum content NTs, was found to be 5%, at which content the incident photon to current efficiency was about 63.1%, an 13.8% increment compared to that using full P25 under the same condition.